Mexica: people of the sun - extract from The Aztecs

The rhythms of life and the organisation of time governed all aspects of Aztec
culture, writes Richard F Townsend in this extract from his
wide-ranging book 'The Aztecs’.

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The Stone of Five Suns: the sun was percieved as a primary source of life, whose special devotees were warriors, charged with the mission to provide it with sacrificial victims. This Sun Stone was found beneath the central plaza of Mexico City.

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An Aztec mask, possibly representing Xiuhtecuhtli, is on display for the Moctezuma Aztec Ruler exhibition at the British MuseumPhoto: PA

5:21PM BST 16 Sep 2009

Since remote times the rhythms of life in highland Mexico had been deeply embedded in the land and the changing seasons. The annual alternation of rain and drought – periods of life and death – determined the cycle of farming people and hunter-gatherers before them. The pragmatic business of obtaining food went hand in hand with a sense of periodicity, rhythm and cyclic recurrence. To the Aztecs, this interaction between humankind and nature was of profound significance, and was affirmed through a calendar of cyclic festivals performed at a network of sacred places in cities and throughout the natural landscape. The religious status and functions of rulers were critical in these relationships, for any Aztec tlatoani was obliged to ensure, by means of traditional rituals, the regularity of the seasons, the productivity of the land, and the fertility of crops and animals.

The original creation of the earth was, in Aztec lore, followed by its destruction, and a succession of four imperfect creations leading to the present fifth era. In the Aztec texts, each of the five creations formed an age called a “sun”. The sequence of eras officially accepted in Tenochtitlan is recorded in such famous sculptural monuments as the “Stone of Five Suns” (once known as the “Aztec Calendar”) and the Coronation Table of Moctezuma II, both above.

Among the Aztecs, the first era was called “four jaguar”. At that time, giants walked the earth but did not till the soil or sow maize, only living by gleaning wild fruits and roots. This imperfect era ended when a jaguar devoured the giants. The hieroglyphic sign for the era was therefore a feline head.

The second era, “four wind”, was also flawed, and was destroyed by hurricanes that magically turned the existing men into monkeys – humanlike, but not fully human creatures. The sign of this era was the mask of Quetzacoatl, lord of the winds.

The third imperfect era ended in a rain of fire, and its people either perished or were changed into birds. This happened on the day “four rain”, therefore the sign of this sun mask was the mask of Tlaloc, lord of the rain.

The fourth era was one of rains so abundant and frequent that the earth was deluged and people were changed into fish. This era’s sign was the head of Chalchiuhtlicue, the water deity. The fifth, or present era, was prophesied to end in earthquakes; its sign was the hieroglyph Ollín, “movement” (of the earth). It was at the beginning of this era that the actual sun, moon and human beings were finally created.

Time for the Aztecs was full of energy and motion, the harbinger of change, and always charged with a potent sense of miraculous happening. There were two aspects of Aztec time-counting, each with different functions. The first was the curious tonalpohualli, “counting of days”, a 260-day cycle for the purpose of divination. This repeating round of days formed a sacred almanac, widely used among Mesoamerican peoples long before the Aztecs.

The second division of the calendrical system was a 365-day solar count, known as the xiuhpohualli, “counting of the years”, which regulated the recurrent cycle of annual seasonal days. These two counts were simultaneously in operation. They have often been explained as two engaged, rotating gears, in which the beginning day of the larger 365-day wheel would align with the beginning day of the smaller 260-day cycle every 52 years. This 52-year period constituted a Mesoamerican “century”. The change from one 52-year period into the next was always the occasion of an important religious festival – the Binding of the Years or New Fire festival, in which all fires were extinguished, and all activities ceased.

The 260-day cycle was composed of 20 groups of named and numbered days (see the Sun Stone, above). Each day received a name – such as rabbit, water, flint knife, alligator, jaguar – which was visually represented by a hieroglyphic sign of the particular animal or object. The cycle of 20 days intermeshed with a rotating cycle of numbers, 1 to 13, each number donated by dots. Within the 260-day period each day was identified by the combination of one of the 20 day names with one of the 13 numbers (20 x 13 = 260). The sacred 260-day cycle was then divided into 20 “weeks” of 13 days each, called trecenas by the Spaniards. Each trecena began with the number 1 and the day-name, which came up in the sequence of rotation. Thus, each combination was unique within the tonalpohualli cycle, for no day in any one week could be confused with that of another.

It is clear from the writings of the Spanish chroniclers that the influences displayed by the tonalpohualli were interpreted by professional diviners. It played an especially important role in the daily lives of the Aztecs, from the solving of personal perplexities, and serving the needs of rulers searching for counsel in matters of state, to prescribing the appropriate times for carrying out planting and harvesting.

The annual ceremonial calendar of the Aztec state was governed according to the 365-day solar count, the xiuhpohualli. This period was divided into 18 “months” of 20 days each, called veintenas by the Spanish, plus a five-day period between the old year and the new.

The years were named after the “year bearer”, one of the four possible day-names of the tonalpohualli, which could begin a new year with its accompanying number, according to the system of rotation. The possible year-names were rabbit, reed, flint knife and house. The years were distinguished by their numbers – thus 1 rabbit, 2 reed, and so on, until 13 numbers and the four day and year-names began to repeat themselves every 52 years (13 x 4). Special importance was placed on the completion of two cycles (104 years), for at such times the solar count, the tonalpohualli, and the 52-year cycle coincided.